The world of technology can be a bamboozling place, especially to nascent entrepreneurs looking for ways to facilitate their growth and boost productivity. In an age where so many software solutions and fancy pieces of hardware are so often touted as a magic bullet that will slay your problems and leave your competitors in the dust, it can be a little overwhelming for budget conscious small businesses who aren’t all that technically minded. Even if you have your enterprise kitted out with the right tech that works for you, your relationship with your technology is always worth revisiting. Here we’ll look at some ways in which your business may benefit from taking a closer look at how it uses technology…
Look out for tomorrow’s technological problems, today
Technology is an ever changing sea that is in a constant state of evolution and revolution. Those businesses that fail to move with technology will inevitably falter and be reduced to so much flotsam on technology’s tumultuous tide. Just look at the cautionary tale of Blockbuster video if you need an example of a once mighty business that failed to move with the technological shifts within its industry. If your eye is always on tomorrow’s problems, you will be better placed to weather the coming storm rather than being caught on the back foot.
Find ways to keep your spending on tech under control
There’s a fine line that every business must walk between investing adequately in your business and spending in ways that spiral out of control. Technology could certainly be considered a good spend with the potential for ever increasing returns on your initial investment, but budget conscious entrepreneurs know that while spending may be an integral part of business success, it still needs to be carefully managed, and every purchase qualified. Aside from factoring the cost of spending on tech into your cash flow projections, it’s also essential that you factor in ways in which the investment will pay for itself in boosting productivity, increasing output or growing your consumer reach. It can be difficult to keep abreast of this which is why many businesses use vCIO software to present information on tech spending and ROI in easy to digest ways. Technology, while a likely safe bet, is not money that is uniformly well spent and should be carefully considered in terms of quantifying exactly how it will benefit your business and when it will start to present a healthy return.
Turn to the cloud
Nascent small businesses must realize that as important as technology is, it’s important to spend smart rather than spending more. The most expensive solution is not necessarily the best. Thus, you may think that investing in expensive servers and a robust IT infrastructure is a step in future proofing your business, when in fact it may simply be miring it in unnecessary costs. Cloud based software solutions are perfect for new SMEs because they are extremely secure and can be scaled up or down as your business grows or contracts. Thus, there is never a wasted dollar spent on storage.
